USS Defiant (NCC-1764)
For other uses of this term, see: Defiant. . (2268)]] The USS Defiant (NCC-1764) was a ''Constitution''-class Federation starship in operation during the 23rd century. In 2268, the Defiant responded to a distress call in an unexplored sector, claimed by the Tholian Assembly. Shortly after entering the region, the Defiant crew began experiencing sensory distortion, and insanity quickly spread throughout the ship. The ship's medical surgeon was unable to determine what was happening, and eventually the insanity induced by the phenomenon lead the crew to kill each other. .]] Three weeks later, Starfleet ordered the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] to mount a search mission to locate the Defiant. On stardate 5693.2, the Enterprise located the Defiant, only to find it lost between universes in a space warp. The Enterprise's instruments recorded that space itself was literally breaking up, the result of a previously unknown phenomenon known as a spatial interphase. The Enterprise landing party beamed aboard the Defiant in an attempt to better understand her fate and discovered the ship was still functioning. The away party, however, discovered that the captain's neck was broken and his crew dead from an apparent mutiny. At that time the Defiant was visible in the "normal" universe at interphase, then, as a result of a later phaser exchange between the Enterprise and the Tholians, created a hole through the spatial interphase, which was pushing the Defiant to parts unknown, trapping Kirk between universes. He was eventually saved when the Enterprise, encased in a Tholian web, entered the interphase, and, upon utilizing full power, was thrown clear of the region while Kirk was locked in the transporter beam. (TOS: "The Tholian Web") [[image:Defiant-NCC1764.jpg|thumb|200px|The Defiant in a Tholian docking bay in the Mirror universe.]] The Defiant emerged in the mirror universe during the 22nd century, where it was discovered that Tholians in that universe had created the interphasic rift by detonating a tri-cobalt warhead within the gravity well of a dead star, and had sent the distress call which had lured the Defiant to the area. The Tholians, soon after, took the ship to a drydock built into an asteroid-moon in orbit around a gas giant in the Vintaak system and began a salvage operation, but were unable to finish because the ship was stolen by Commander Jonathan Archer of the [[ISS Enterprise (NX-01)|ISS Enterprise (NX-01)]]. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly") After Enterprise was destroyed in a Tholian web, Archer (now on the Defiant) made a desperate attempt to escape by restoring shields and weapons. After the station tractored the Defiant, Tucker was able to restore those systems. The Defiant began firing at the Tholian station and disabled it. At first, the Defiant could only reach speeds at impulse because a Gorn stole one of the key components from the engines. The Gorn was killed by Archer and he was able to restore warp drive. After arriving at the rendezvous point with the assault fleet, Archer found two Andorian battle cruisers, one Vulcan ''D'Kyr'' type cruiser, and one Tellarite ship were disabling the [[ISS Avenger|ISS Avenger]]. The Defiant destroyed all rebel ships except one Andorian cruiser which Archer intentionally allowed to escape. Soval and T'Pol tried to sabotage Defiant with Phlox's help, inspired by the discovery that in the United Federation of Planets of the other universe, Vulcans and Denobulans were equal to humans. When Phlox disabled main power, the Defiant was defenseless, and the Avenger, commandered by Soval and other rebel species, began firing at her. Defiant recieved heavy damage until Tucker was able to restore main power. With power restored, Archer ordered the destruction of Avenger. The Defiant fired phasers and photon torpedos and destroyed Avenger's warp regulator. The second barrage of photon torpedos was targeted at their main reactor. The Avenger was destroyed with all hands. After destroying Avenger, Defiant arrived at Earth, now under the command of the self-proclaimed "Empress Hoshi Sato", having poisoned Archer and taken command of the ship. She ordered Admiral Gardner to surrender and standby for instructions, or she would open fire on Earth. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II") Related topics * USS Defiant (NCC-1764) personnel Background Star Trek: Enterprise teleplay writer Michael Sussman noted in his "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II" podcast commentary that the USS Defiant has aft phasers and torpedoes that its Constitution-class sister ship USS Enterprise apparently lacks or does not use onscreen. In the original series episodes "Arena" and "Friday's Child", the stock voice loop for damage control reports does include a verbal reference to aft phasers aboard the USS Enterprise. Sussman intended to imply with a painting in the Defiant's briefing room that this starship was named after an [[HMS Defiant|HMS Defiant]] "cutter type ship." He later learned that there was no HMS Defiant in real life, but there was a fictional one in the movie Damn the Defiant! (based on the Frank Tilsey novel Mutiny). Apocrypha In the Star Trek: SCE novellas Interphase, Book One and Interphase, Book Two, the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci rescue the damaged starship Defiant from interphase and the Tholians in the year 2376; the novellas were written before "In A Mirror, Darkly, Parts I & II" were produced, though, interestingly enough, "In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II"'s conclusion does not rule out the possibility of the Defiant being returned to the rift. Defiant, USS Defiant, USS de:USS Defiant (NCC-1764)